I'm sure the brothers in Rickreal who just purchased an old grain silo with a rail spur so they could develop a biodiesel plant are excited about government subsidized competition. I hope they got some sort of bone thrown their way for being out front on something the government clearly values, but I'm not holding my breath.

That's not a biodiesel plant in development in Rickreall. It's an oilseed crushing plant. The plan is to send the oil it produces to a refinery in Salem. And, oh, yeah, it got a million dollar low-interest loan from the state.

Hmm, about 16 pounds of waste for every gallon of fuel . . . 20 gallon fuel tank . . . . that means that each tank of fuel releases 320 lb of waste and takes a little over a quarter acre to grow.

Rapeseed (canola) production is around 1,500 lb per acre so how much wheat land will change production to grow 5 million gallons of fuel? My estimate is about 67,000 acres which is about 9% of Oregon's wheat acreage.

Jack -- you can thank the bio-Diesel drivers when the price of your Malt-o-Meal goes up next year. Also your favorite beer.

That's still better than bio-gasoline, though. That takes about 45 pounds of corn for every 10% ethanol tank of gas. (450 pounds for a full tank of pure ethanol.) Which of course, skyrockets the price of tortillas and masa. Does switching to bio fuels aggravate the hunger of poor people in Mexico and further motivate them to flee to the US?

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 155
At this date last year: 241
Total run in 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269